In a former volume of the Saturday Magazine, (Vol. IV. p. 234,) we gave a partial sketch of the Island of Guernsey, forming one of the group called collectively the "Channel Islands." We shall here present some additional information on the subject. St. Peter's Port is the only town on the Island, and the approach to it from the sea is said to be very attractive. But "like many more important places than St. Peter's Port, these appearances are deceptive; and all the apparent attractions of the town disappear when one steps on shore. I should say, that the first impressions of St. Peter's Port, are decidedly unfavourable. We perambulate narrow, steep, and crooked streets, flanked by substantial, indeed, but old looking dusky houses; and walk as long as we may, we reach no open space where we may stop and look about us*." The capital of the neighbouring island of Jersey, St. Hellier, differs from St. Peter's Port in this, that, in the former, the houses of the gentry are thrown into rows and streets, and form part of the town; whereas the better houses in St. Peter's Port are not within the town, but are detached residences; and herein arises the great beauty of the environs of the town, and the small attraction of the town itself. The Elizabeth College, and the Public Hospital, were described in our former paper; we will therefore INGLIS' Channel Islands. VOL. XVI procced to speak of the Fish-market, one of the most admirable to be found at Guernsey or elsewhere. A person entering the Guernsey fish-market on a Saturday morning, in a good fish season, would, as Mr. Inglis remarks, set down the people of Guernsey as a fish-eating people. It is a spacious arcade, a nundred and ninety feet in length, and broad and lofty in proportion, lined with a double row of marble slabs, which extend the whole length of the building, and are covered with fish. "And it is probable that if we visit the market on the afternoon of the same day, the immense display of the morning will have dwindled away into a few solitary whitings, and shell-fish, scattered here and there." The building is modern; the interior light and airy; and the slabs, chiefly of variegated marble, are each supplied with plenty of fresh water. The supply of fish is exceedingly abundant, particularly of turbot, cod, and mullet; and the prices are cheap. The civil government of Guernsey, under the governor appointed by the Crown, is as follows. The legislative body is composed of a bailiff, appointed by the Crown,-the rectors of the parishes, eight in number, presented by the governor,-the constables, representatives of the parishes, and the jurats, chosen by a body, called the states of election. When the legislative body is to meet, a writ is issued by the 495 bailiff for that purpose. The object of the meeting is explained to the constables, who in their turn call together and consult the states of election, consisting of 132 douzeniers chosen by the rate-payers. The douzeniers of each parish come to a decision on the subject, and the constable representing them votes according to the instructions he has received, in an assembly consisting of the bailiff, the jurats, the clergy, and the constables. The jurats are the judges of the island. In EngTand, in order that the judges may be as free as possible from party or popular control, they are appointed for life by the Crown; but in Jersey and Guernsey they are elected by the people. In the former island a fierce and bitter party spirit arises from the election of the judges by what is nearly universal suffrage. In Guernsey the evil is less, since the election is made, not by the people at large, but by the "States of Election," consisting of about 150 persons. The Guernsey clergy are universally poorly paid, since the great tithes of the island go to the governor, who is appointed by the Crown,-the small tithes being the principal source of income to the clergy. Of the country-people generally, we may say that they belong to three different classes,-the substantial land-owner, the small proprietor, and the cottager. The first class live upon the least marketable part of their produce; feed their cattle on the parsneps and beet-root grown on their own grounds; make their spirits from their own potatoes, and cider from their own apples; with their other produce, they purchase lands or leases, and thus gradually increase their property. The second class pursues nearly the same course, but on a smaller scale. He has his one cow, and a few pigs, and by being generally economical, is enabled to lay by a little store. Many of them too are carpenters, or masons, and earn an addition to their income by going out to work, their families not requiring all their attention. Some, who live near the coast, join the trade of fisherman to that of farmer. Three or four of them will club together in the purchase and keep a boat; they go out to fish, return with a load, and the wives carry the fish to market, while the husbands proceed to cultivate their grounds. The third class, the cottagers, are generally day-labourers, or form part of the family of a small proprietor. Even this class of persons contrive to save money. A very favourable character for morality is given to the humbler classes of the inhabitants of Guernsey. The dress of the inhabitants is very characteristic, except in those instances where the novelties of fashion have been introduced. The "Guernsey bonnet" has long been known for its singularity, as well as for its large size. The crown is formed of a long piece of silk, gathered into three rows of plaits, of an oval shape, from the front to the back of the head; and is set off between the folds with lace, or crape; with the latter when the wearer is in mourning. A very large and complex bow of narrow ribbon is plaited immediately in front. The top of the crown is either flat or plaited, to correspond with the rest of the bonnet; and on the top another bow is perched. The front, of pasteboard, is covered with silk, and reaches somewhat beyond the ears. Under this bonnet is worn a close mob cap, with a narrow muslin border. The other usual articles of female dress are, a petticoat, of black stuff, thickly quilted, a gown of an old fashioned chintz pattern, open in front, and tucked into the pocket holes of the petticoat; a bodice, open in front to the waist; tight sleeves, terminating just below the elbow; blue worsted stockings; and black velvet shoes and buckles. The men's dresses are a curious mixture of old French and old English. But both sexes are beginning now to ape the fashions of their two great neighbours. We will now quit Guernsey and pay a visit to the romantic little island of Serk, situated two or three leagues distant from it. Its appearance from a distance is that of a barren elevated spot, but once arrived on the island, we see that it is covered with luxuriant crops, diversified with woods, roads, and valleys; and spotted with the comfortable farm-houses of about six hundred inhabitants. The nature of the possessions in the island of Serk, as well as the number of inhabitants, are liable to as little change, perhaps, as in any part of Europe,— chiefly arising from the laws relating to property. The particulars, according to Mr. Inglis, are these. There are forty copyhold possessions on the island; and there can never be either less, or more. No copyhold possessor of a farm, can sell or dispose of a part of his property; he may sell, but he must sell all; and one thirteenth part of the purchase money goes to the lord of Serk. In case of death, also, the property devolves entire upon the eldest son; or failing such, to the eldest collateral branch. All properties, in short, must ever continue entire, as originally granted. Buildings, too, erected on an estate, must go along with it; there is therefore no facility for an increasing population. The lord of the manor, however, possesses some land not yet granted in copyhold; and upon that land, houses have been erected, and population has increased. The properties of the farmers average about fifteen acres in extent; so that, as there is not sufficient employment for all the members of a family, most of the farmers are also fishermen. The inhabitants are, indeed, more warmly attached to the latter, than to the former, mode of life; and were it not that the soil is extremely fertile, the labour and attention bestowed upon it by the farmers would be insufficient to insure good crops. But the fertility is great, sixty bushels of wheat per English acre being often yielded. The fish caught by these farmer-fishermen, are partly devoted to the daily meals, partly salted for winter provision, and the remainder carried to market; particularly lobsters and cray-fish. The Serkmen build their own boats, and go to Guernsey, to France, and even to England, with a cargo of potatoes from their farms, and of fish from their fishery. The preference which the men show for fishing leaves a number of laborious duties on shore to be performed by the women, and this, indeed, to so great an extent, that they have not time to bestow the requisite attention to their children. The result is, that the women and children are unfavourably placed, in comparison with the men. It is the opinion of Mr. Inglis, that if the Serkmen were to pay more earnest attention to the cultivation of their farms, the result would be, after a time, a larger return from their labour, than they now have from farming and fishing combined. The government of this little island is very singular. In civil, military, and ecclesiastical affairs, it is under the jurisdiction of Guernsey; but the legislative power, as far as regards the internal arrangements of the island, is vested in the seigneur, or lord, and his forty tenants. These forty persons form a sort of little parliament, which sits three times a year, and which is presided over by an officer, called the Seneschal, who is appointed by the seigneur ; and the seigneur possesses a veto on the acts of the assembly. The executive power is vested in the Seneschal,who has the cognizance of civil cases; and from his court, an appeal lies to the royal court of Guernsey. Besides these, there are a provost, a registrar, a constable, and a vingtenier: the office of the first, is to plead the King's causes, to regulate weights and measures, and to arrest for debt; the second has the custody of the records of the island; the third and fourth constitute | in the ground, and one laid across the top. When the police of the island. The provost and registrar are named by the seigneur: the others by the forty tenants. The seigneur could formerly call upon the inhabitants to bear arms, and provide themselves with muskets, and accoutrements: these latter, are now provided by government: the seigneur is the lieutenant-governor of the hundred persons forming the militia. The houses of the farmers are built of stone, generally granite,, and have, most of them, the appearance of great antiquity. Their situations are generally well chosen, in some sheltered spot, either in the dells, or behind hillocks. All of the better sort of houses have enclosures before, and a little orchard ground behind; and there is altogether something very picturesque about these oddly shaped and very substantial houses,, with the moss-grown rocks and stones in their neighbourhood, and the venerable ivy that hangs upon their walls. Within doors, multifarious occupations may be seen going on, such as tailoring, hat-making, and the like, for in such a limited community as that of Serk, families must provide themselves, by their own labour, with many articles which would be sold by shop-keepers, in other places. The Serkmen are rather religiously disposed. There is a neat and commodious church, erected about twenty years ago, the incumbency of which is a perpetual curacy, in the nomination of the seigneur. There is no fixed stipend, the sum being agreed on between the patron and the minister: at present the stipend is eighty pounds per annum and a free house. There is, also, a free-school in the island, attended by about seventy children: the school-master receives thirty three pounds per annum. The revenue of the lord, or seigneur, consists principally of the tithes, viz. one tenth of all the wheat, barley, oats, beans, lambs, wool, &c. as well as one half of all unclaimed wrecks. The climate of Serk is exceedingly healthy; no medical man resides on the island, nor is one often wanted. "What a retreat would Serk be," says Mr. Inglis, "to the professional or the literary man. from the din of the metropolis! What a contrast between the crowd, and bustle, and noise, and mists of Fleet Street, and the repose, and free air of Serk, with its deep, still dells, and flowery knolls, and quite bays, and monotonous sounds." ON OMENS. II. In our last article on this subject, we confined our notice principally to the omens credited by the ancient Greeks and Romans. We proceed now to later ages. Some of the oriental nations believe, that if a deer be seen descending a mountain, or behind the beholder, it is an unlucky omen. Marriages made about the middle of February are fortunate. If an involuntary cough or sneeze interrupt the Mahometans during their ablutions, the whole ceremony is begun anew. When a Persian peasant wishes the wind to rise for the purpose of winnowing his corn, he rubs and scatters into the air a species of saffron ; and by these means hopes to obtain what he desires. In some places, in order to foretel the weather, the peasants tie some combustible matter to the tail of a bullock, and ignite it; if the animal then run up a hill, they consider it a sure prognostic of rain. The early Germans made the horse an instrument of divination. When they were about to engage in any military enterprise, they set up three rows of spears, each row consisting of a certain number fixed they were thus fixed, a horse (a white one was preferred) was brought out by the priest, and led to the spears if he advanced in such a manner that his right foot reached the spears first, the omen was fortunate; but if his left foot advanced before his right, the omen was unlucky. This ceremony was repeated before each of the rows of spears: it was also repeated before they embarked on any naval expedition. In the British islands, particularly England, the belief in omens has diminished greatly before the spread of intelligence, sound thinking, and religious knowledge; and it is principally among uneducated persons, and those, too, in the decline of life, and in rural districts, that such superstitions still retain their ground. The melancholy and disgraceful proceedings formerly in vogue against witches have vanished away with the more general diffusion of education, and the clearing up of religious principle by the standard of the Bible. Among the events which were formerly regarded as good omens, but which have gradually relaxed their hold upon the imaginations of even the humbler classes in England, though still occasionally met with, are the following:-If, on setting out on a journey, a sow with pigs were met, the journey would be successful. To meet two magpies portended marriage,—three, a successful journey,-four, unexpected good news,-five, that the person would soon be in the company of the great. If, in dressing, a person put his stockings on wrong side out, it was a sign of good luck; but the luck would be changed, if the stockings were the same day turned the right way. It was a sure forerunner of success to a person going on important business to throw an old shoe. after him when he left the house. To find a horseshoe was deemed lucky: and particularly so if it were preserved, and nailed upon the door, as it thus served to prevent witchcraft. If the sun shone on a married couple, or if it rained when a corpse was being buried, these were lucky omens. Valentine's day was particularly favourable as a season for marriage. plucking a "merry-thought," the person who obtained the largest share would be married first. In Similarly unfavourable results were foretold from large number of events, great and small. To kill magpie was a terrible misfortune, as was likewise to kill a swallow. If, on a journey, a sow crossed the road, the traveller, if he could not pass it, had to ride round it, otherwise bad luck would attend his jour ney. If a lover presented a knife or anything sharp to his mistress, it portended that their loves would be cut asunder. In fact, to give away a knife upon any occasion was held to be unlucky; so that a person wishing to make a present of a knife to any friend, always received a half-penny, or other small coin, in return as payment, that the article might not seem to be given, but sold. To find a knife or a razor, foretold disappointment. A piece of coal or burning cinder, of a hollow, coffin-like form, starting from the fire, foreboded death. To spill salt, or lay two knives across each other at table, were ominous. If thirteen persons sat down in company at table it was called "the devil's dozen," and misfortune would happen to some one of the party. The noise of the small insect called a death-watch, and the sound of the screechowl at midnight, portended death or some terrible misfortune. If the cheek felt hot, or the ear tingled, some person was talking of the individual in question. A "thief" in the candle foretold the coming of strangers; and a bright spot of the burning wick, the arrival of a letter. Friday was an unlucky day on which to be married; and this day is even now pro verbially shunned for this purpose. Yellow was an seed is put into the ground, the mistress of the family sends ominous colour for an unmarried female to wear. If salt into the field. it rained on St. Swithin's day it was sure to rain for forty days afterwards. If an old woman sneezed, it was very unlucky. It was also unlucky to cut an infant's nails before it was a twelvemonth old. The reader may, if he pleases, while perusing this list of amusing weaknesses, consider how many of them have yet to be driven from their dwelling-place, the "heads of the people," by rational cultivation of the mind. The peasantry of the southern districts of Scotland appear to possess a strength of mind which keeps them tolerably free from these prejudices; but the highlanders, before they were brought much into communion with their southern brethren, had numerous omens. It was unlucky to stumble at the threshold, or to be obliged to return for anything forgotten. To step over a gun or a fishing-rod, spoiled sport. If, when the servant was making a bed, she happened to sneeze, the sleep of the person who was to lie in it would be disturbed, unless a little of the straw, (with which the highland beds used to filled,) were taken out and thrown into the fire. If a black cloud were seen on New Year's Eve, it portended some dreadful calamity, either to the country or to the person over whose estate or house it passed. The day of the week on which the third of May fell was deemed unlucky throughout the year. Friday was an unlucky day for digging peat, or for taking an account of the sheep or cattle on a farm. When turf was to be used for fences, it was cut during the increasing of the moon, because the wish was that it should increase or grow; but when turf was cut for fuel, it was done when the moon was on the wane, under the hope that it would wither and dry speedily. If a house took fire during the increase of the moon, it denoted prosperity; if during her wane, poverty. In the island of Mull, the first day of every quarter was deemed fortunate; and Tuesday was the most lucky day for sowing corn. It was deemed lucky to meet a horse. In the Orkneys, Friday, which in most other countries is reckoned an unfortunate day, is generally chosen for the wedding-day. When an Orkney fisherman is setting off from the shore, he takes especial care to turn his boat in the direction of the sun's motion; if he neglected this, he would not expect good luck. In some parts of Scotland good or bad fortune throughout the year is thought to depend greatly on the person who is first seen on New Year's morning, or the "first foot," as it is called: if the "first_foot" be that of a friend, and a fortunate person, the subsequent year will be fortunate. this idea, as soon as twelve o'clock at night announces the commencement of the New Year, it is customary to secure a "lucky foot" to one's friend, even though it should be necessary to enter their chamber when they are fast asleep. Under Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, has collected an immense mass of omens, of various times and regions, of which we have thus extracted a few. Waldron, in his description of the Isle of Man, says : No person will go out on any material affair without taking some salt in their pockets, much less remove from one house to another, marry, put out a child, or take one to nurse, without salt being mutually interchanged; nay, though a poor creature be almost famished in the street, he will not accept any food you will give him, unless you join salt to the rest of your benevolence. Camden, speaking of the Irish, says: In the town, when any enter upon a public office, women in the streets, and girls from the windows, sprinkle them and their attendants with wheat and salt. And before the A writer of the seventeenth century, speaking of the Jews, tells us that some of them observe, in dressing themselves in the morning, to put on the right stocking and right shoe before the left, without tying them; then to put on the left and tie them; and lastly to tie the right, so as to begin and end with the right leg. Hudibras tells us, too, what is somewhere reported as a fact, that: Augustus, having by oversight Put on his left shoe 'fore his right, Mr. Brand very sensibly and judiciously observes:A superstitious regard to omens seems anciently to have made very considerable additions to the common lot of human infelicity. They are now pretty generally disre garded, and we look back with perfect security and indifference on those trivial and truly ridiculous accidents which alternately afforded matter of joy and sorrow to our ancestors. Omens appear to have been so numerous, that we must despair of ever being able to recover them all; and to evince that in all ages men have been self-tormentors, the bad omens fill a catalogue infinitely more extensive than that of the good. Sailors, though usually the boldest men alive, are yet frequently the very abject slaves of superstitious fear. This is owing probably to the so much greater call upon their physical than upon their mental capacities, and the little opportunity which they usually have for acquiring knowledge. "Superstition and profaneness,' as Andrews observes in his Anecdotes, "those extremes of human conduct, are too often found united in the sailor; and the man who dreads the stormy effects of drowning a cat, or of whistling a country-dance while he leans over the gunwale, will too often wantonly defy his Creator by the most daring execrations and the most licentious behaviour." Among sailors, whistling is thought to be inauspicious, as tending to provoke Satan to show his power in stirring up tempestuous winds, though it is sometimes practised in a dead calm. Even at the present day they account it very unlucky to lose a bucket or a mop. To throw a cat overboard, or drown one at sea, is the same. Children are deemed lucky to a ship. Sir Thomas Browne tells us of the following old custom :- That a king-fisher, hanged by the bill, showeth us what quarter the wind is in, by an occult and secret propriety, converting the breast to that point of the horizon from whence the wind doth blow, is a received opinion and very strange-introducing natural weather-cocks, and extending magnetical positions as far as animal natures: a conceit supported chiefly by present practice, yet not made out by reason or experience. "Omens and prognostications of things," says Bourne, are still in the mouths of all, though only observed by the vulgar." They were formerly observed also by people far above the vulgar, as the following account will show. Dr. Hickes, in a letter to Dr. Charlett, Master of University College, Oxford, dated Jan. 23, 1710-11, and preserved in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, mentions: The omens that happened at the coronation of King James the Second, which, (says he) I saw : viz., the tottering of the crown upon his head; the broken canopy over it; and the rent flag hanging upon the white tower when I came home from the coronation. It was torn by the wind at the same time the signal was given to the Tower that he was crowned. I put no great stress upon these omens, but I cannot despise them; most of them, I believe, come by chance, but some from superior intellectual agents, especially those which regard the fate of kings and nations. VENDOME is situated in the central part of France, in the department of Loir et Cher. It was formerly the principal town in a small district called Vendomois. This district was bounded on the west by the Maine, on the north by the Dunois, on the east by the Blaisois, and on the south by the Touraine. It was about twelve leagues in length, and ten in breadth, and was watered by the Loir, the Graisne, and numerous smaller streams. This mode of division is, however, no longer in continuance, and Vendôme must be considered as the capital of the department of Loir et Cher. Vendôme has given the title of duke to many distinguished men in France. The first was Cæsar, son of Henry the Fourth and Gabrielle d'Estrée. From him was descended Louis, Duke of Vendôme, a great general in the time of Louis the Fourteenth. He was born in 1654, entered at an early age into the military service, and received, in 1702, the command of the French army in the war of the Spanish succession. After having distinguished himself in Tyrol, Italy, and Belgium, the Duke of Burgundy was placed over him; and the disagreement of the two commanders caused the defeat of the French at Oudenarde in 1708. Through the influence of Madame de Maintenon, the most experienced generals were displaced if they chanced to displease her; and the Duke of Vendôme was now recalled. But when the affairs of Philip the Fifth of Spain began to wear a threatening aspect, the Spainards requested Louis the Fourteenth to send Vendôme to their aid; and his arrival changed the state of things. December 9, 1710, he defeated the Austrian general Stahremberg at Villariciosa; and having re-established Philip's throne, he died in 1712, and was buried in the escurial. His brother Philip was grand prior of the order of the Knights of Malta, in France; he was born in 1665, served in the Spanish war of succession, and died in 1724. But although the title of Duke of Vendôme is comparatively recent, the town gave that of Count some centuries back; for it was one of the Counts of Vendôme that originated a remarkable custom followed in that town for several ages, a custom in which superstition has no small share. Louis de Bourbon, Count de Vendôme, was taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt in the early part of the fifteenth century; he was carried to London, and confined in the tower, were he made a vow or prayer to the "sacred tears" of our Saviour for his deliverance. Shortly afterwards he contrived to make his escape from the tower, and to return to Vendôme; where, in order to commemorate his liberation, he ordered that the magistrates of the town should, every year, liberate a prisoner or criminal. The manner in which this order was, for a long period of years, obeyed was thus:-On Good Friday a grand procession was made through Vendôme, in which one of the persons carried a vessel containing what was announced to be the sacred tears which Christ shed on the tomb of Lazarus. After this came a prisoner, clothed in simple drapery, and holding a wax taper in his hand, and who, at the end of the ceremony, obtained his liberty. This privelege, of liberating a prisoner, was attacked and opposed at the commencement of the eighteenth century, on the ground that it had not been confirmed by letters patent from the king; but the celebrated d'Aguesseay, Chancellor of France, was of opinion that, notwithstanding this defect in form, it ought to be permitted, on condition that the prisoner who was liberated was worthy of pity on these terms a letter patent was granted by the king, and the custom continued in vogue for some years after that time. Vendôme is situated upon the Loir, on two collateral islands. Besides five parish churches, it comprises the ruins of the abbey of the Benedictines of the Trinity, founded by Geoffery Martel, count of Anjou, in 1032. A hill which commands the town is crowned by the ruins of an ancient castle, the |